Tread

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiu opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Su Yao continued speaking:

"Call me cold-blooded or selfish, it doesn't matter. I grew up on Qixia Mountain, where I saw immortals and cultivated the Tao. I've never set foot in the human world. You're different from me. You lived at the foot of the mountain for ten years, saw the smoke from cooking fires and heard the barking of dogs, so you have a soft heart and vow to protect the people. But I don't."

He paused slightly, his gaze falling on Yang Xiu's face, his tone softening somewhat:

"So I won't try to persuade you of your stubbornness. You protect your people, and I'll protect mine. Let's each go our own way and not interfere with each other."

Yang Xiu remained silent for a long while before whispering:

"Brother Dao, are you... trying to get rid of me?"

Upon hearing this, Su Yao's lips curled up slightly, a smile that vanished in an instant, before he said:

"Why would I send you away? You are one of the few people I can trust in Nanzhao. But just now you asked me about the future of Mysterious Gate Xuanmen sect and the people of Nanzhao. To be honest, I don't know, and I don't care. I only care about those things."

Then he turned around, facing the northern horizon, his voice somewhat scattered by the wind:

"All I know is that I'll kill anyone who dares to touch my people. As for anything else, I won't think about it anymore; after all, thinking too much just gives me a headache."

After saying that, Yang Xiu stared at his retreating figure for a long while, then suddenly smiled.

There was relief in that laughter, but also helplessness:

"You haven't changed at all."

Su Yao didn't turn around, only humming in response.

Yang Xiu shook his head, unsure whether he was laughing at himself or at Su Yao.

"I was just thinking of getting you involved in doing something for the people of Nanzhao. Now it seems I was being foolish."

"Whether you're foolish or not, you know it in your heart," Su Yao said. "If you weren't so foolish, I might not be on good terms with you."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiu finally fell silent.

The area in front of the hall fell silent again.

The wind passed through the mountain gate, and the golden bells swayed gently, making a barely audible sound.

On the northern horizon, the three-colored afterglow suddenly flickered, like a dying flame suddenly bursting forth with a glimmer of light.

Su Yao and Yang Xiu both stiffened and looked northwards.

The tri-colored afterglow no longer flickered weakly, but surged anew. The invisible net that had previously hung low to the sky and blocked out the sun was now being pushed open inch by inch by forces surging from the ground. The net surface bulged and cracked, and the tri-colored light seeping out from the gaps changed from faint to bright, from gray to clear.

Immediately following, a thunderous sound rolled in from the far north, like an earth dragon turning over, and ten thousand drums beating in unison.

The earth seemed to tremble.

Yang Xiu's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly said:

"Here we go again?"

Su Yao narrowed his eyes, his gaze piercing through layers of clouds and mist, landing directly on the surging, three-colored sea of light.

Within the sea of light, there were no longer just phantoms and paintings.

Those common people who were originally working in the painting suddenly stood up one after another, their movements perfectly synchronized, as if they had received the same command.

"No, that's not right," Su Yao suddenly exclaimed.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Northern Sky Sea suddenly shrank, and all three colors disappeared.

The world fell silent once more.

Yet, in this deathly silence, an extremely clear sound of footsteps came from the depths of the North Celestial Pole.

"Tread."

It was as if someone had descended from the clouds to the mortal realm.

But then, in the blink of an eye, it vanished without a trace.

Yang Xiu gasped upon seeing this and said:

"Is this level of power something that Purple Mansion could achieve?"

Su Yao shook his head:

"A reincarnation of True Lord is naturally extraordinary. And... if I'm not mistaken..."

Su Yao stopped mid-sentence. Yang Xiu quickly pressed him for an answer:

"I guessed correctly?"

Su Yao paused for a moment before saying:

"Back then, the State of Chu had ten great sorcerers behind it, ranging from True Lord to Dao Lord. Later, these ten great sorcerers appeared one after another. Some perished while seeking the Dao, some perished in life-or-death battles, some were captured and killed by the Yuanfu Yuanfu refusing to submit, and some were tortured to death by the Yang Palace with the Great Yang for wantonly slaughtering living beings... Having survived King Ping's eastward relocation and the two great wars between immortals and demons at the end of the Warring States period, having survived the Qin Emperor's conquest of the six states, and having reappeared after the Qin Emperor's death, only the Spirit Witch Dao Lord of Longchuan Heaven remained."

Yang Xiu was puzzled upon hearing this:

"What does that have to do with the reincarnation of the True Lord?"

Su Yao said:

"Originally, we were completely unrelated. But after I reached the Purple Mansion stage, I remembered some Daozheng Dao Zheng had told me when I was young. However, at that time, my cultivation was still shallow, and Daozheng had concealed them. Only after reaching the Purple Mansion did the concealed memories reappear."

"Back then, when I heard the true words of the Dao, the first Genshi Juntian Zhenjun who transformed the land into a Daoist being fell, He was observing the ceremony in the Great Void with my third generation of Daoist patriarchs. At that time, this Daoist Lord was also observing coldly in the Great Void. After the Zhenjun fell, He put away one of the Zhenjun's magical treasures and left."

"The True Lord once possessed five treasures: the Great Marsh Banner, the Raise the Pole Command, the Renewing Beginnings Plow, the Equalizing Fields Ruler, and the Chen Chu Seal. The one that Dao Lord took away was the Great Marsh Banner. Later, Dao Lord took several of the True Lord's great-grandsons back to Longchuan, and since then, there has been no trace of it in the world."

He looked at Yang Xiu's confused expression and continued:

"Furthermore, True Lord is a native of State of Chu. Back then, he rebelled against Qin and established a state called Chu!"

Yang Xiu smiled wryly upon hearing this:

"During the great war between immortals and demons at the end of the Warring States period, my Golden Court was misled by the calamities it controlled, and ultimately closed its gates until the Han Dynasty moved south... These are things that we in the Dao know very little about."

Su Yao didn't respond to that, but continued:

"I've been wondering why this reincarnation of Proclaiming Earth True Lord was able to use Proclaiming Earth to draw down the Longchuan Heaven. After all, Spirit Witch Dao Lord cultivated the Earth Witch path, and his attainments were second only to those few Ancestral Witches, while Proclaiming Earth and Earth Witch have no connection. Now I understand, it's probably because this reincarnation of True Lord has the bloodline of both Spirit Witch Dao Lord and the original Proclaiming Earth True Lord. Coupled with the Great Marsh Banner in the Longchuan Heaven, and the connection of True Lord's destiny, Fruition Position, and bloodline Law Treasure, it was this that drew the cave heaven down."

Yang Xiu was taken aback upon hearing this, and then said:

"Could this reincarnation of the True Lord be none other than the original True Lord Proclaiming Earth Renewing Beginnings and Equalizing Fields True Lord Tian...?"

Su Yao hesitated for a moment before shaking his head:

"I don't know. Throughout history, there have been many Proclaiming Earth True Lord. In my opinion, it's probably not him. After all, a True Lord cannot hold such a transformative position as Earth Virtue for long without merit."

He paused, then continued:

"Years ago Daozheng went to Zhegui Su Household to borrow the immortal artifact ' Spring and Autumn,' he taught me many secrets. He only said that among the True Lord of Proclaiming Earth throughout the ages, apart from the one who destroyed the foundation of the Qin Dynasty, none of the others left their names."

He paused, then lowered his voice:

"Later, I also had this suspicion, so I asked Daozheng if they were all the same person. Daozheng only replied with one sentence..."

At this point, Su Yao suddenly stopped, as if recalling the events of that day.

Yang Xiu, growing increasingly anxious, couldn't help but press for an answer:

"What did Supreme True Person reply?"

Su Yao smiled, gazed at the northern horizon, and slowly said:

"If I don't know, how could you possibly know?"